Oct Reading List

I had little spare time in October and only managed to read two fairly easy-to-read books and started a little bit on the third.

女王の教室 The Book (Queen's Classroom)
This is like a guidebook to the TV drama.  I was a little disappointed that they didn't do a full novel because I like to read those and let the TV scenes run through my mind.  Instead, this slim 100-odd page book only summarised what happened in each episode in two pages, highlighted the memorable lines in another two pages, and provided a comic page.  Then again, the character introductions and accounts from various acquaintances of Maya Akutsu were interesting to read and the pictures from the drama were also nice to look at.

Nana Vol. 20 (Chinese translation)
The story is getting a bit draggy.  Quite keen to know the ending, which seems to be nowhere in sight for now since the author has taken ill and has suspended writing for the time being.

ラスト.プレゼント (Last Present)
Usually I like to watch the drama before reading the novelised version but this time I don't have a choice cos I can't find a subtitled version of this 2004 drama.  Anyway it is not the first time that I am reading a TV novel without having watched the drama.  

It is quite a tear-jerker...After abandoning her family in favour of pursuing her career, successful architect Asuka Hiraki (Yuki Amami) is estranged from her husband Satoshi (Sounosuke Sasaki, who acted with Amami in “Divorce Lawyer”) and 8-year-old daughter Ayumi (Mayuko Fukuda, who was also Amami’s co-star in “Queen’s Classroom” and “Queen of Pop”.  In fact, reading about Ayumi's character reminds me of the calm, cool and clever Hikaru Shindo played by Fukuda in "Queen's Classroom”.)  Actually part of the reason why Asuka chose to escape was also because she couldn't handle looking after a young child and hated herself for being a bad mother.  

Just when she thought that her life is picking up, she is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has only 3 months to live.  She then tries to spend her last summer with Ayumi, who despite having seen very little of Asuka in recent years, is still very fond of her mother deep down in her heart.  Asuka also makes a trip to visit her parents, brother and sister-in-law who live in the countryside in the Gunma prefecture...The story is predictable but not overly melodramatic and is quite well-written, and it was difficult to stop reading the book once I got started.  Actually reading it is almost like I was watching the series, as I can imagine all the scenes in my head.

Related posts:

Past Two Weeks Update
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/yung-guitarlesson/article?mid=2634

Aug Reading List
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/yung-guitarlesson/article?mid=2657

Sep Reading List:
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/yung-guitarlesson/article?mid=2694